Let me explain the dish. The first time I made it was in 2011. I was so smitten with creamed spinach that I was pairing it with meat, seafood and chicken. Finally, I tried it with pasta and I loved it. Still, being more carnivore than herbivore, I just had to add bacon. In this updated recipe, mushrooms join bacon to give an already excellent dish even more flavor and texture.
Connie’s Notes
Ordinary ingredients thrown together to make an extraordinary one bowl meal. The real secret is in the browning. Brown the onion when making creamed spinach. Brown the bacon and mushrooms before stirring in the creamed spinach.
In the case of the creamy spinach sauce, there is another important thing to remember even before you get to the part where you brown your onion. Remove as much water from the spinach as you possibly can to avoid the sauce turning soupy.
Blanch the leaves, drain, refresh in cold water then squeeze. Squeeze hard. If you’re not confident that your hands alone can do a good job, place the drained spinach in a piece of cheese cloth and wring out the water.
Rendered bacon fat plays an important role here. If your bacon is on the leaner side and not enough fat is rendered to brown the mushrooms in, add a tablespoon or two of butter.
Let the bacon brown well before adding the mushrooms. And don’t worry if, after the mushrooms are in the pan, the bacon appears to turn pale again. It’s the water content of the mushrooms that does that. But as that water evaporates, the bacon will acquire its caramelized texture once more. The mushrooms will have that texture too. That’s your clue that they’re ready to get mixed with the creamed spinach.
After adding the creamed spinach to the bacon and mushrooms, shredded cheese is stirred in. The cheese thickens the sauce so when you toss in the pasta, you may find a bit of resistance. Just loosen the sauce with a little milk to make tossing easier. The slightly undercooked pasta will soak up that added liquid anyway so you’ll still have a thick creamy cheesy sauce when the dish lands on the dining table.
Blanch the leaves, drain, refresh in cold water then squeeze. Squeeze hard. If you’re not confident that your hands alone can do a good job, place the drained spinach in a piece of cheese cloth and wring out the water.
Rendered bacon fat plays an important role here. If your bacon is on the leaner side and not enough fat is rendered to brown the mushrooms in, add a tablespoon or two of butter.
Let the bacon brown well before adding the mushrooms. And don’t worry if, after the mushrooms are in the pan, the bacon appears to turn pale again. It’s the water content of the mushrooms that does that. But as that water evaporates, the bacon will acquire its caramelized texture once more. The mushrooms will have that texture too. That’s your clue that they’re ready to get mixed with the creamed spinach.
After adding the creamed spinach to the bacon and mushrooms, shredded cheese is stirred in. The cheese thickens the sauce so when you toss in the pasta, you may find a bit of resistance. Just loosen the sauce with a little milk to make tossing easier. The slightly undercooked pasta will soak up that added liquid anyway so you’ll still have a thick creamy cheesy sauce when the dish lands on the dining table.Ingredients
Creamed spinach
- coarse salt
- 250 grams fresh baby spinach - (about ½ pound) rinsed well
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion - chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- pepper - to taste
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
To complete the dish
- 150 grams spaghetti - (about ⅓ pound) or whatever amount you cook for three people
- 250 grams belly bacon rashers - (about ½ pound) cut into thin strips
- 150 grams shimeji - (about ⅓ pound) cut into smalller pieces
- ¾ cup shredded cheese - (a combination of cheddar and mozzarella is recommended)
- full-fat milk - (optional)
Instructions
Cook the creamed spinach
- Boil about six cups of water with a teaspoon of salt.
- Blanch the spinach for 30 seconds. Drain (save the water), rinse and squeeze as hard as you can, in batches if necessary, to remove all the water.
- Chop the spinach (rough or fine chop, it's up to you).
- Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the chopped onion. Cook the onion over medium heat until the edges are lightly browned.
- Add the spinach to the browned onion.
- Pour in the sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Cook just until everything is heated through.
- Off the heat, stir in the nutmeg.
Cook the spaghetti
- Boil the water in which the spinach was blanched, add another teaspoon of salt and dump in the spaghetti. Cook until just a bit underdone.
- Drain the spaghetti and set aside.
Brown the bacon and shimeji
- Spread the bacon in a cold pan. Turn the heat to medium and let the bacon start rendering fat. Stir and cook until browned.
- Add the shimeji and continue cooking with occasional stirring until both the bacon and shimeji are nicely browned (see notes). Scoop out a quarter of the mixture and set aside.
Complete the dish
- Stir the creamed spinach into the browned bacon and shimeji.
- Add the cheese. Stir. Add the cooked spaghetti and toss repeatedly. If the sauce is too thick, pour in about a quarter cup of milk and toss until blended.
- Taste. Add more salt and pepper, if needed.
- Twirl your spaghetti into bowls and top with the reserved browned bacon and mushrooms.
